Oh its amazing,
for me it’s not my first manga but you can say its one of the first mangas I’ve read in Japanese, so it holds a special place. In general I watched stuff like 未来日記 as my first animes so my taste has been leaning towards the creepy stuff over time haha
6 Likes
I think Happiness is a really great manga for beginners because it’s a full fledged horror piece so it’s very clearly not for kids, but you can still get through it relatively easily. Even as someone who detests horror, I was happy to read that first volume at the time and be like Damn So I Can Enjoy Adult Things In Japanese.
Then I put it down and locked that memory away so it can never bother me again
8 Likes
March 2nd:
Summary Post
 |
Book | Pages |
|---|---|---|
 |
一瞬を生きる君を、僕は永遠に忘れない。- L31 Novel | pg.138 - pg.158 |
 |
月曜日の抹茶カフェ - L30 Novel | pg.18 |
 |
本好きの下剋上 1 - L32 LN | pg.56 |
 |
風立ちぬ - L41 Novel | 50% |
 |
名探偵コナン 3 - L26 Manga | pg.40 |
For today’s reading:
Enjoying this book still. Didn’t have loads of time to read today because I was busy looking at plum blossoms, and when I got back, I didn’t feel like reading much.
Now, summary time! I’ve chucked everything I’ve done since January in here because it makes it look prettier, and I hadn’t yet organised everything into one place yet.
Novels:
| Novels | Name | |
|---|---|---|
 |
変な家 - L29 Novel | finished  |
 |
また、同じ夢を見ていた - L25 Novel | finished |
 |
君の名は - L29 Novel | finished |
 |
コーヒーが冷めないうちに - L27 Novel | finished |
 |
ノルウェイの森（上）- L31 Novel | finished |
|
この嘘がばれないうちに - L27 Novel | finished |
|
ノルウェイの森（下）- L31 Novel | finished |
 |
お探し物は図書室まで - L29 Novel | finished |
| Manga | Name | |
|---|---|---|
 |
ホリミヤ 1 - L23 Manga | finished |
|
ホリミヤ 2 - L23 Manga | finished |
|
ホリミヤ 3 - L23 Manga | finished |
|
ホリミヤ４ - L23 Manga | finished |
|
ホリミヤ５ - L23 Manga | finished |
 |
名探偵コナン３ - L26 Manga | finished |
Novels Bookshelf
Manga Bookshelf
Best things I’ve read so far this year:
Manga-wise, I’ve not exactly read very broadly. ホリミヤ is great though.
Novel-wise, Top 3 so far this year:
3) お探し物は図書室まで ★★★★☆
Not as good as other 青山美智子 books (which I’ll never shut up about), but a very relaxing and at times incredibly heartening book nonetheless.
2) ノルウェイの森 (both books) ★★★★★
A long-term dream to read in Japanese, and an absolutely amazingly written book (or set of books).
1) 君の名は。★★★★★
This one really surprised me with how good it is, as an adaptation of the film. Shockingly good. Obviously, it’s not written with the same depth of prose as something more literary, but it absolutely gripped me like nothing else I’ve read so far this year, and I just wanted to read and read and read it. I need to get through the すずめの戸締まり adaptation as well and see if it’s similarly as good.
16 Likes
２０２５年３月２日(日)
今朝、チーズスイートホームの第６１章を読んだ。
9 Likes
Good to know, I love a good horror story. I may read this one soon after I’m finished with チーズスイートホーム - I see on natively it is the next level up so maybe a good choice for stepping up the reading material. Happiness along with Wolf of the Small Forest are both on the same natively level, so I’ve been considering both for my next series.
5 Likes
3月1日 (土)
- 風立ちぬ (50-56%)
- ふたつのスピカ 6 (18-52%)
3月2日 (日)
小渝之森 第19话（下）- ふたつのスピカ 6 (52-100%)
Reading Challenge of Q1 2025 
- Wrapping up
.
Japanese reading got a good amount according to plan. 4 books, 3 of which got to half, so just on goal. 23 manga volumes of 7 series, 4 series are of multiple volumes.
Chinese reading is almost everyday, biggest reason being I slipped graded readers and VN/game into a slot each for daily habits. Reading is a biggest route for essential vocab building, providing that I look up in a dictionary generously, write characters with finger if I have to.
Goodness of VN for me isn’t really text hooking, but rather focus – try my best to understand a small chunk of text, take as much time as I want, as long as it stays reasonable on a grand scale of chapters.
Rewinding, seeing old lines, is another goodness. 空の軌跡 doesn’t have that, but I don’t have such games for Chinese yet.
Essential vocab, as well familiarity with grammar, helps with reading/listening with sub later on.
12 Likes
2025年3月2日(日)
| Book | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| ホリミヤ (2) | Manga | 32/175 (18%) | ~ |
| ハピネス (8) | Manga | 192/192 COMPLETED | ~30m |
| ハピネス (9) | Manga | 192/192 COMPLETED | ~30m |
I have to say, volume 8 and 9 were incredibly disturbing, I love it.
I do feel a bit nauseas and I lowkey want to vomit but it’s a good story fr. I do NOT recommend it for people with weak hearts.
12 Likes
March 2nd - Home post
Long and busy day today. Just one chapter of ふらいんぐうぃっち to keep the streak going.
12 Likes
Home post // March 2
・ ふたつのスピカ Week 5
・ 夜の名前を呼んで 1
Messed up my sleep schedule, felt tired and terrible today. Didn’t feel like reading book, so I read manga today. I learned about 夜の名前を呼んで from when @windupbird was reading it in earlier challenges. The art is incredibly cute 
Since it was on sale on bookwalker, I ended up buying all five volumes.
15 Likes
PrevFinal update of the main part of the challenge. I did manage every day in January and February in the end. I don’t plan on doing every day in March, but I’ll still do weekly updates here for what I do read.
| Date | Name | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-03-02 |  サイレント・ウィッチ１ |
LN (IBC) |
 0.5 Chapters 16 Pages |
 1h15m |
| 2025-03-01 |  本好きの下剋上第一部6（JN） |
 Jr Novel |
1 Chapters 25 Pages |
0h50m |
| 2025-02-28 |  SPY x FAMILY |
 Manga |
0.25 Chapters 20 Pages |
0h20m |
| 2025-02-27 | SPY x FAMILY |
Manga |
0.75 Chapters 40 Pages |
0h25m |
| 2025-02-26 | 本好きの下剋上第一部6（JN） |
Jr Novel |
1 Chapters 45 Pages |
0h40m |
| 2025-02-25 |  ふたつのスピカ１ |
Manga (IMC) |
1 Chapters 30 Pages |
0h14m |
| 2025-02-25 | 魔法少年なつき×らびっツ２ |
Manga (BLBC) |
1 Chapters 36 Pages |
0h14m |
| 2025-02-24 | 本好きの下剋上第一部6（JN） |
Jr Novel |
1 Chapters 25 Pages |
0h57m |
Over the course of the challenge, I completed 2 novels and 8 manga, which I think is a good amount
16 Likes
2025年3月3日(月)
| Book | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| ハピネス (10) | Manga | 192/192 COMPLETED | ~30m |
ハピネスーCOMPLETED!!!
Below is a summary of my journey with happiness and a review of the manga, it is with spoilers, I will do my best to blue out incredibly important stuff but not everything will be marked, so be warned.
Art & Gore
How do I even start haha, I guess I’ll begin with the most engageable topic- visuals.
Art wise, this manga really is on its own level in my opinion. The author did an incredible job from visually stunning covers to incredibly disturbing scenery and abstractism is used incredibly in this series, especially in the scenes where the ‘vampirification’ happens, or at least when we view it from the vampire “POV”, how everything is distorted, as if the world is rejecting them. I really loved this nuanced approach, it’s incredibly disturbing at times, but it sets the tone amazingly. I will provide some examples of what I mean.
Now, I sense the urge to discuss a main aspect of the story, the gore.
It is both magnificent yet terrifying at the same time, Oshimi Shuzo’s use of silence to convey eeriness was honestly masterfully done!
Instead of throwing useless conversations, everything is crafted carefully to make you feel irritated, disgusted, creeped out.
Especially on volume 8-9, there were incredibly disturbing parts, like,major spoilers for example, after eating yuuki’s BRAIN, being convinced it will turn him into a vampire, Masami Sakurane literally cuts Yukiko above her chest and pulls up a straw to gulp down her blood, only to find he still hates the taste of blood, because he isn’t a vampire. .
From this example, and many others, I believe Oshimi did an incredible job.
I will provide images as well, but please beware it is very gorey and disturbing, if you have a weak heart do NOT OPEN
Story
Now, lets move on to the writing of the story and the overall tonality and theme.
I slowly touched on the topic of how Oshimi uses “silence” or rather the absence of conversation to create creepy and eerie theme. I think this was done beautifully, and really sets the tone of helplessness and cruelness of the world. I believe it was amazing.
Other than that, ironically like the name of the manga suggests, the end is somewhat optimistic, although personally speaking I will say the way it was set up to be was actually very saddening as well, which brings my next point up- emotion. This manga makes you feel, whether its repulsiveness, anger, sadness, hopelessness and etc, you feel something, now yeah I can say that about any manga or story really, but my point I’m trying to bring up is that in a manga where gore is a main part of it, Oshimi did an incredible job of incorporating emotional attachment to characters, I personally really loved Yukiko for example. I rooted for her the entire story!
More in-depth about characters, I wish Nora had a more active role than she had. I think that the sentimentality that Nora found in Makoto is beautiful, but it felt like she had really little involvement other than serving as a popping shield for Makoto once in a while (considering the ending, I do get it, but still. It felt a bit artificial but still overall she was definitely an enjoyable character.)
Sakurane Masami is possibly one of the creepiest, most disgusting characters I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve had my fair share of grotesque readings. Homie is pure evil, darkness, twisted in his heart. I never felt this much hatred towards a character before, every time he was on screen I felt like he was gazing on my soul, and I genuinely felt nauseous for a few minutes after reading vol 8.
Now, I also want to point out pacing, I think the pacing was a little odd, for example, the jump for 10 years in the future out of nowhere was really startling, like woah!? Makoto returns to Nora and then soldiers appear out of nowhere and suddenly 10 years have passed??
To give as an example, that was quite confusing, but I was able to piece everything together pretty easily afterwards, but still, a little more clarity or going in depth about those scientists and what they did to Makoto, Saku and Nora would’ve been nice.
So yeah, I think to sum it all up, Oshimi did an incredible job with the story, theme and characters, like I said I have some parts I would’ve liked to be different but they aren’t enough to make me love it less.
Journey wise
As far as my reading goes, this one really stuck with me, yes its L15, but reading is still reading.
I initially started the challenge with horimiya, and I’m still planning on reading it.
However, before even joining the challenge, I tried picking up happiness, why? I don’t know really, I guess the cover art really stuck with me, and I said to myself “this has some incredible visuals, I’ll probably enjoy it”.
Guess what? I failed miserably, why? no discipline, or genuine effort to reading in Japanese, after rediscovering my interest, I took it much more seriously, and considering I joined the challenge and set myself clear, and manageable goals, I was able to effortlessly read happiness, and enjoy it truthfully.
Some volumes were harder, some were incredibly easy, but the general conclusion, is that I found a beautiful manga, and consistently read everyday.
So, thank you happiness, for bringing happiness to my heart, you will always have a special place in my heart as the first manga I’ve read from start to finish in Japanese.
PS! I bought the entire physical set in Japanese, expected to come soon, reread will be physically. 
13 Likes
March 1
I just read some manga magazines.
11 Likes
３月２日
 |
Book | Type | Progress | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
ルリドラゴン 1 | L20 | Manga | 6% → 14% | 10m |
 |
無職転生 ~異世界行ったら本気だす~ 1 | L31 | Light Novel | 9% → 9% | 21m |
13 Likes
I completed my first reading challenge and I’m so glad I committed to it. I read 44/59 days which isn’t great but I’m happy to report that I’ve noticed a big jump in my ability to read Japanese. I read some NHK Easy News and I got hooked on Satori Reader’s 聞き耳ラジオ. Does anyone happen to know the name of the Japanese Classic it is based on? I completed 21 episodes during the challenge and plan to participate again.
17 Likes
3月3日(月)
NHK NEWS WEB EASY (1 article)
SR 新型ノロウイルス大流行
ことわざ絵本 (下手は上手のもと)
占い師・藤鬼 (第二十一話〜第二十五話)
文法: 完全マスター・文法問題対策3級
Part III (3) 変化 62.〜く/になる
Read 0-48 pp (reread this week’s & previous weeks’ assigned readings plus next week’s)
14 Likes
Love his films so I’ll keep this in mind for future reading - thanks!
7 Likes
Had a quick look to see if I could find out, but wasn’t successful. But, if you really want to know, ask Brian Rak (the creator of SR) in the comment section below one of the episodes. He’ll get back to you in a number of days.
6 Likes
weekly read along update! 
Finished volume 4 of Maison Ikkoku, its honestly such a fun, silly story. Very nice practice for me hehe. I really enjoy all of the characters, and their silly quirks and the two leads are silly as hell on their own too.
I’ll focus on SR for the coming week, mostly Sppring and Yuyu catch up! c:
12 Likes
omg i completely forgot about your learnnatively plugin to generate the images, that would be so much easier than tediously replacing each individual image url
Dude is the Flowers of Evil author huh? I didn’t know he did Blood on the Tracks as well. Doesn’t bode well for me enjoying it lol. For sure one of my ‘this dude is a genius. I never want to experience anything they write’ artists lol
11 Likes
3月3日 | : 3 books, 16 manga vols
| ? | Title | Type | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|
|
逆転裁判１Case 5 甦る逆転 | game | Part 3 Trial (Con’t) |
 |
ぼっち・ざ・ろっく! 2 | manga (club) |  49% |
 |
自称悪役令嬢な婚約者の観察記録1 | manga | 48% → 76% |
- Staggering onwards in 逆転裁判. Didn’t have to do the video again but the GOD DAMN BLUE BADGER THEME came up again in an infuriating puzzle that required complete precision for a very vague thing that I just looked up a guide for because, fuck it, I already did the brainwork in 2006 or whenever I played the DS version. It was very shortly followed by a connect the dots kanji puzzle that I also looked up because lol. I hope that’s the end of the insane evidence in this case, please, god.
- Diligently grinding away at 自称悪役令嬢婚約者, nearly done (though I already speed-read to the end). It’ll really be nice when I can just chillax and read these the way I am some other manga, but for now it’s still a lot of work… picking up a lot of fantasy nobility language though (伯爵、侯爵、王族…)
I will probably have to go through parts of Ace Attorney again later with the transcript because this testimony in particular there’s a lot of question about who is subject and object and being knocked about and it’s clear I didn’t comprehend it quite correctly at first go.
12 Likes